CALIPSO Night Validation Flights High Spectral Resolution Lidar (HSRL-2) Data

The CALIPSO Night Validation Flights (CALIPSO-NVF) airborne deployment was conducted in August 2022 out of Bermuda. The goal was to conduct a series of nighttime underflights of the CALIPSO satellite with the NASA Langley High Spectral Resolution Lidar (HSRL-2).

Airborne measurements from the NASA Langley HSRL-2 instrument are essential for verifying the calibration accuracy of the CALIPSO lidar and for acquiring information on aerosol optical properties used for its aerosol profile retrievals. By flying under the CALIPSO ground track, HSRL-2 provides an independent measurement of lidar attenuated backscatter with a higher signal-to-noise ratio. To obtain this important validation dataset, the HSRL-2 was flown on board the LaRC B-200 King Air as CALIPSO passed within range of the aircraft.